Mongolian

Classical Mongolian Alphabet

Mongolian (монгол)

Mongolian is an Altaic language spoken by approximately 5 million
people in Mongolia, China, Afghanistan and Russia. There are a number
of closely related varieties of Mongolian: Khalkha or
Halha, the national language of Mongolia, and
Oirat, Chahar and Ordos,
which are spoken mainly in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region of China.

Other languages considered part of the Mongolian language family,
but separate from Mongolian, include Buryat
and Kalmyk, spoken in Russia
and Moghul or Mogul, spoken in Afghanistan.

In 1208 Chinggis Khan defeated the Naiman, and captured their Uyghur
scribe Tatar-Tonga, who apparently adapted the Old
Uyghur alphabet
to write Mongolian. The alphabet created by
Tatar-Tonga is now known as the Uighur/Uyghur Script, the Classical
Mongol Script, the Old Script, or Mongol Bichig in Mongolian.

Between the 13th and 15th Centuries, Mongolian was also written with
Chinese characters, the
Arabic alphabet and a script
derived from Tibetan called
Phags-pa.

As a result of pressure from the Soviet Union, Mongolia adopted the
Latin alphabet in 1931 and the
Cyrillic alphabet in 1937. In 1941 the
Mongolian government passed a law to abolish the Classical Mongol script, but
since 1994 they have been trying to bring it back. It is now taught to
some extent in schools, though is mainly used for decorative purposes
by artists, designers, calligraphers and poets. The average person in
Mongolia knows little or nothing about the Classical Mongol script,
though there is high literacy in Cyrillic. In Inner Mongolian Autonomous
Region of China the Classical Mongol script is still used.

Classical Mongol script

Notable features

  • Type of writing system: phonemic alphabet with separate letters for
    consonants and vowels.
  • Direction of writing: left to right in vertical columns running from
    top to bottom.
  • The letters have a number of different shapes, the choice of which
    depends on the position of a letter in a word and which letter follows it.

Vowels

Classical Mongol Script - vowels

Consonants

Classical Mongol Script - consonants

Consonant/vowel combinations

Classical Mongol Script - consonant/vowel combinations

Numerals

The first set of numbers (tegen, nigen, etc.) are Classical Mongolian,
the others are modern Mongolian.
Mongolian numerals and numbers

A recording of the Mongolian numbers by Senji

Punctuation

Traditional Mongolian Punctuation

Cyrillic alphabet for Mongolian (Khalkha)

Cyrillic alphabet for Mongolian

A recording of the Mongolian alphabet by Senji

Sample texts in Mongolian

Traditional alphabet

Sample text in Mongolian in the Traditional alphabet

Cyrillic alphabet

Sample text in Mongolian in the Cyrillic alphabet

Transliteration

Khün bür törzh mendlekhee erkh čölöötei,
adilkhan ner törtei, izhil erkhtei baidag. Oyuun ukhaan nandin čanar
zayaasan khün gegč öör khoorondoo akhan düügiin
üzel sanaagaar khar’tsakh učirtai.

A recording of this text by Bat-Orgil Myagmardorj
A recording of this text by Nomun Myagmardorj

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They
are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another
in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

  • Categoria dell'articolo:Lingue
  • Tempo di lettura:5 minuti di lettura